Best of the Brokers for 20 November 2013 November 19, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com QUINTAIN Barclays keeps its overweight rating on the London property developer but has trimmed its target price by 2p to 130p following the sale of its Greenwich project. The broker thinks the growing demand for homes in the city will play in Quintain’s [...]
London Report: Intertek caution drags FTSE to a sub-6,700 close November 19, 2013 B RITAIN’S top share index slipped yesterday, hurt by testing firm Intertek on worries over a slowdown in its business, though analysts were confident that technical support would cap any weakness in the broader market. Intertek, a company specialising in safety and quality tests, fell 2.5 per cent after saying headwinds experienced in the first [...]
We should applaud the corporate contrarians who reveal misconduct November 19, 2013 THE PUBLIC has lost faith in key parts of the business sector. It has endured the mis-selling of payment protection insurance, the rigging of Libor, insider trading, and an ongoing probe into the forex markets. Something has gone badly wrong. But why do so few in business have the courage to speak out about wrongdoing [...]
Dividends and insurance claims to be paid via smartphone app November 18, 2013 INSURANCE claims, dividends and refunds from firms can be paid via smartphone app PingIt, Barclays announced today, in the latest phase of its mobile payments war with other lenders and cross-bank offering Zapp. Previously PingIt has been used for person-to-person payments and customer-to-company transfers, and is on offer to customers of any bank. But now [...]
Aberdeen set to win £500m bid battle for Swip November 18, 2013 ABERDEEN Asset Management is poised to sign a £500m deal to buy Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (Swip) after beating a rival bidder to land the company. The all share deal – which would give Lloyds just under a 10 per cent stake in Aberdeen – is set to be unveiled this morning after the other [...]
Banks urged to cut premium rate phone bills for customers November 18, 2013 CONSUMERS are being ripped off by high rate phone charges used by their banks and credit card providers, said consumer group Which?, in a new drive to cut or end the premium rate bills. It comes at Barclays and RBS announced they will offer free or basic-rate phone lines to customers. “With two of the [...]
The law firm boss leaving the City for a homecoming November 17, 2013 After nine years at Freshfields, Ted Burke tells Elizabeth Fournier why he’s going in-house IF strong law firms are built on their client relationships, then Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer must have some very solid foundations. In one of the longest-standing and enduring client-law firm relationships on record, Freshfields can trace its origins all the way back [...]
City Moves for 18 November 2013 | Who’s switching jobs November 17, 2013 Stirling Square Capital Partners The mid-market private equity firm has announced the appointments of Jonathan Heathcote (pictured) as a partner and Matteo Nichil as an executive. Heathcote was most recently at Palamon Capital Partners, where he was a partner. Prior to that, he was a partner at European Acquisition Capital. Nichil joins from Bank of [...]
London Report: New borrowing figures likely a boost for Britain November 17, 2013 CHANCELLOR George Osborne is likely to get a boost this week with October public borrowing figures predicted to show the economic recovery gaining strength. Corporation payments and profits from the Royal Mail share sale have helped boost the government coffers and the final set of figures before Osborne’s Autumn Statement are expected to be strong. [...]
Entrepreneurship week comes to London: Four events worth watching November 17, 2013 IT’S GLOBAL Entrepreneurship Week, and this year’s theme (Take a Step Forward) is more timely than usual. Despite record numbers of new startups, UK entrepreneurs still find it more difficult to scale or reach the next stage of their development than their peers in the US. Whatever the reasons (and they are much debated), this [...]